Date of Award
Spring 2017
Degree Type
Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation
Degree Name
English, PhD
Program
School of Arts and Humanities
Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair
Wendy Martin
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Eric Bulson
Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member
Mark Eaton
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2017 Martha C. Rapp
Keywords
The Ambassadors, Henry James, Homosexuality, Subcultures, Paris
Subject Categories
Literature in English, British Isles | Literature in English, North America | Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority
Abstract
This dissertation argues that Henry James deliberately and ingeniously wrote The Ambassadors (1903) as a double-plotted novel. The traditional plot which follows Lambert Strether to Paris provides cover for the detailed story of Strether’s experiences in Paris as a homosexual man seeking his identity. James conveys the Other Plot by means of code, the primary signifiers of which are references to the well-established homosexual subcultures of London and Paris. In-depth historical research on diverse aspects of homosexual life in the nineteenth century are presented in order to demonstrate how James addresses an audience sympathetic to same-sex love without raising condemnation from moral and literary critics.
DOI
10.5642/cguetd/105
Recommended Citation
Rapp, Martha. (2017). The Other Plot in The Ambassadors. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 105. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/105. doi: 10.5642/cguetd/105
